As noted in the previous post, Kyle Kendrick was sent to minor league camp earlier today. Sent down with Kendrick were catcher Lou Marson (BlueClaws 06) and shortstop Brad Harman (2005).

Later this afternoon, Jason Donald (07) was sent over to minor league camp as the Phillies trim their roster. He’ll be the everyday shortstop, one would think, with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The Arizona product hit .296 in Grapefruit League play, and with Jimmy Rollins playing in the World Baseball Classic, he received extensive playing time. But with Rollins back, that playing time was going to be curtailed.

Donald’s best hope of making the team was if Chase Utley was going to miss the beginning of the year. That does not appear likely now. Marson had hoped to be the team’s backup catcher in 2009, but that went out the window when Ronny Paulino was acquired from the Pirates in the offseason.

Both Donald and Marson are well regarded both inside and outside of the organization, and while both wanted to make the team out of camp, but both will be better off playing everyday in the International League rather than once every 10 days in the National League.

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Cole Hamels starts Tuesday in a minor league game. Pitching coach Rich Dubee: Can Hamels be ready for Opening Day (April 5th)?

“It’s a very, very, very small shot, if at all,” Dubee said. “But saying that isn’t saying he can’t pitch the fourth game of the season and not miss a start.”

The fourth game means he would get one extra outing in before his season debut.

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Tomorrow we’ll get you an update on the recent minor league spring training games.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Past BlueClaws, Phillies, Spring Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.